abstract: The People's Republic of China's inexorable ascendancy has become an epochal event in international landscape, accentuated by its triple national ceremonies of global significance: 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 2009 Beijing Military Parade, and 2010 Shanghai World Expo. At a momentous juncture when the PRC endeavored to project a new national identity to the outside world, these ceremonial occasions constitute a high-stake communicative opportunity for the Chinese government and a fruitful set of discursive artifacts for symbolic deconstruction and rhetorical interpretation. To unravel these ceremonial spectacles, a public memory approach, with its versatile potencies indexical of a nation's interpretive system of social meaning, its normative framework of ideological model, and its past-present-future interrelationships, is contextually, conceptually, and analytically diagnostic of a rising China's sociopolitical constellations. Thus employing public memory as a conceptual-methodological matrix, my dissertation focuses on the prominent texts in these ceremonies, excavates their historico-memorial invocation and sociocultural persuasion, and plumbs their discursive agenda, rhetorical operation, and sociopolitical implication. I argue that the Chinese government deliberately and forcefully strove for three interrelated communicative objectives at these three ceremonies--re-imaging, re-asserting, and re-anchoring its national identity as an ancient, emergent superpower. Yet in contemporary Chinese context, its discursive (con)quest to recast its leadership as a historically continuous, culturally orthodox, and ideologically legitimate regime has always been compromised by its mythologized historical representation and hegemonic rhetorical reconfiguration, countervailed by its political and ideological fragility, and contested by domestic and global publics. Besides its contributions to the current conversation on the PRC's ceremonial phenomena, discursive formations, and communicative dynamics, this dissertation further offers its diagnosis and prognostication of this projected leading country in the 21st century. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Communication Studies 2012

La poésie d’éloge est particulièrement fréquente au début du XVIIe siècle et se publie sous diverses formes. Or le lieu n’est pas indifférent quant à la lecture des pièces, notamment lorsqu’il s’agit de recueils collectifs. Ces recueils sont nombreux au début du siècle, mais ceux édités par Toussaint Du Bray ont une organisation particulière, les pièces étant regroupées par auteur avec un paratexte important. Ce mode de diffusion contribue à désancrer les textes du contexte de leur écriture pour les réinscrire dans un cadre poétique. L’équilibre des trois grandes fonctions (sociale, politique et poétique) de la poésie d’éloge en est modifié. La relation mécénique n’apparaît plus que dans les mises en scène qui en sont faites. La fonction politique s’infléchit en une réécriture des événements politiques et en la fixation d’un récit, la fonction idéologique perdurant dans la célébration des dédicataires et par la démarcation implicite entre ce qui est loué ou non. Surtout, la publication en recueil redonne la primauté au caractère poétique des pièces ; elle permet aussi de lire ce qui restait plus discret lorsque les poèmes étaient dispersés : parce que le poète doit justifier sa parole laudative, parce que la valeur de l’éloge ne dépend pas seulement de celui qui est loué mais aussi de la qualité du chant, les pièces font entendre un discours identitaire et métapoétique qui s’interroge sur le rôle du poète, la force de sa parole et son statut social, en ces années où les écrivains recherchent une plus grande autonomie. Dans les recueils collectifs, la poésie d’éloge valorise tout autant le poète que le grand. / Eulogy poetry is especially frequent at the beginning of the XVIIth century and its type of publication is diverse. Now the place of publication has an impact on the reading of the pieces, in particular when it is about collective collections. Amongst the numerous collections of the beginning of the century, those edited by Toussaint Du Bray are being grouped in a special manner, the pieces being collected by authors with an important paratext. This mode of publication contributes to outsource the pieces from their writing context aiming to inscript them in a poetical frame. Hence the balance of the three great functions (social, political and poetical) of the eulogy poetry is modified. The patronage’s relationship doesn’t appear anymore in the layout done. The political function is redirected on a rewriting of the political events and on a fixation of a narrative; the ideological function stays on in the celebration of the persons and by the implicit partition between what is or isn’t praised. Then, the publication in a collection restores its primary aim to the poetic character of the piece, it also allow to read what was more discreet when the poems were scattered; because the poet must justify his own laudative discourse, because the value of the eulogy doesn’t only depend from the one praised but also from the quality of the song, the pieces present an identitarian and metapoetic discourse which ask on the role of the poet, the power of his word and of his social status, on those years when the writers are seeking a greater autonomy. In those collections, the eulogy poetry value as much the poet as the great.

Epideictic rhetoric, one of the classical modes of persuasion described by Aristotle, has faced some criticism concerning its value in the realm of rhetoric. Though attitudes have been shifting over the last several decades, there is still a tendency to undervalue epideictic, falling back on the Aristotelian system of ceremonial oratory. However, its “praise and blame” style of persuasion employs of the type of rhetor / audience identification described by Kenneth Burke. Epideictic rhetoric is a major component of virtually any communication, as the speaker or writer seeks to create a bond with that audience so as to persuade them of something. This is evident in Victorian women's travel narratives; not necessarily noted for rhetoricality, they are nonetheless powerfully rhetorical in their prose as they foster emotionally- based identifications. Through their employment of epideictic description, travel narratives are not merely showpieces, but rather catalysts for social consciousness and change. As we move from the civic discourse-based Aristotelian classification of epideictic to encompass literary works like the travel narrative, the multifaceted value of epideictic is undeniable.

This article examines the role of epideictic rhetoric as a tool for promoting civic virtue in the public realm through the application of Kenneth Burke's theory of identification and John Dewey's explanation of an aesthetic experience. Long the jurisdiction of Aristotle's logical arguments, civic discussion usually works within the realm of forensic or deliberative persuasion. However, scholarship in the last fifty years suggests there is an unexplored dimension of Aristotle's discussion of epideictic and emotion that needs to be examined in an attempt to identify its usefulness as a tool for examining human experience and practical behavior in the political realm. I attempt to add to the discussion by exploring the presidential funerals of Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan as opportunities for a nation to display a hero's virtues as extensions of society's virtues. Virtues often define what a nation considers good which, in turn, influences the nature of the discussion and often determines political action.

Este trabalho tem como objetivos a tradução anotada e um estudo a respeito da obra Suasórias de Sêneca, o rétor. A tradução tenta seguir de modo rente o texto original, enquanto as notas procuram informar ao leitor algum acontecimento histórico ou personagens citados por Sêneca ou pelos declamadores. Já o estudo divide-se em três capítulos, o primeiro, procura detalhar algumas questões básicas sobre a declamatio, tendo ainda como subcapítulo um estudo mais aprofundado sobre as fontes desse fenômeno romano; o segundo capítulo versa sobre a forma constituinte da obra, ou seja, as sententiae, diuisiones e colores; o terceiro e último capítulo analisa de perto a relação entre suasória e prosopopeia, suas semelhas e diferenças. / This dissertation has as its aims an annotated translation and a study about the work Suasoriae of Seneca, the elder. The translation attempts to follow closely on the original text, while the notes informes the reader some historical event or characters cited by Seneca or even by the reciters. The study is divided into three chapters, the first attempts to clarify some basic questions about the declamatio, and also has, as its subchapter, a further study on the sources of this Roman phenomenon, the second chapter deals with the constituent form of the work, i.e.the sententiae, diuisiones and colores, the third and final chapter examines closely the relantionship between suasoria and prosopopeia, their resemblances and their differences.

Este trabalho tem como objetivos a tradução anotada e um estudo a respeito da obra Suasórias de Sêneca, o rétor. A tradução tenta seguir de modo rente o texto original, enquanto as notas procuram informar ao leitor algum acontecimento histórico ou personagens citados por Sêneca ou pelos declamadores. Já o estudo divide-se em três capítulos, o primeiro, procura detalhar algumas questões básicas sobre a declamatio, tendo ainda como subcapítulo um estudo mais aprofundado sobre as fontes desse fenômeno romano; o segundo capítulo versa sobre a forma constituinte da obra, ou seja, as sententiae, diuisiones e colores; o terceiro e último capítulo analisa de perto a relação entre suasória e prosopopeia, suas semelhas e diferenças. / This dissertation has as its aims an annotated translation and a study about the work Suasoriae of Seneca, the elder. The translation attempts to follow closely on the original text, while the notes informes the reader some historical event or characters cited by Seneca or even by the reciters. The study is divided into three chapters, the first attempts to clarify some basic questions about the declamatio, and also has, as its subchapter, a further study on the sources of this Roman phenomenon, the second chapter deals with the constituent form of the work, i.e.the sententiae, diuisiones and colores, the third and final chapter examines closely the relantionship between suasoria and prosopopeia, their resemblances and their differences.

The 1760's and 1770's saw the emergence of numerous clubs, orders and societies in Stockholm. One of the most extraordinary expressions of this phenomenon was Carl Michael Bellman's Bacchi Orden, a series of semi-public dramatic entertainments chronicling the exploits of the members of Bacchi Orden, a fictional society enrolling several of Stockholm's most notorious drunkards and dedicated to the celebration of Bacchus. Bellman's parodic perspective stands in marked contrast to the self-professed virtuous undertakings of Stockholm's contemporary clubs and orders, whose members were recruited from the social and economic elites and professional and artisanal classes. The main purpose of the dissertation was to study the ceremonial rhetorical practices of Bacchi Orden - speeches, processions and other features designed to enhance the members' loyalty to the society's chosen ideal - and compare them to similar rhetorical traits in several orders and societies of the era in Stockholm to understand what made Bellman's parody work as an entertainment. The dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter introduces Bacchi Orden as a parodic and dramatic work and the eighteenth-century associations as cultural and social institutions. The second chapter outlines the use of ceremonial rhetoric in a number of orders and societies in Stockholm contemporary with Bacchi Orden. Through a combined chronological and thematic approach, the third chapter examines recurring rhetorical patterns in Bellman's parody and the rhetorical implications these patterns might have signaled to his audicence. The ceremonial rhetorical practices of Bacchi Orden may be interpreted as parodying rhetorical commonplaces occuring in all the examined orders' pledges to uphold certain virtues for the benefit of the Swedish nation. This system of virtues - with moderation, patriotism and diligence as cornerstones - is put to parodic use in Bacchi Orden through the different breaches of decorum Bellman allows his characters to act out in their doomed endeavors to combine ceremonial protocol and severe intoxication. As a contrast, friendly and frank companionship among the selected few is the one positive virtue that Bellman's audience can infer from his mock-society. This particular tenet became central to subsequent social clubs, which used Bellman's fiction as a template for their ceremonies.

No description available.

Au milieu du XVIIIe siècle, la Franche-Comté rejoint le réseau des sociétés savantes qui ont pour objectif de contribuer « au progrès des sciences et à la perfection des talents » : une académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts est établie à Besançon. Les académiciens comtois entreprennent dès lors de nombreux travaux et s’emploient à favoriser l’émulation de leurs concitoyens en organisant régulièrement des concours. De cette activité qui perdure jusqu’en 1789 témoignent les archives manuscrites de la compagnie, aujourd’hui conservées à la Bibliothèque municipale de Besançon et consultables en ligne sous forme numérisée. Menée avec un regard littéraire, l’exploration de ce vaste fonds d’archives a permis de sélectionner un échantillon de discours restés inédits et d’en proposer une édition critique. Le genre de l’éloge, très lié à l’institution académique, méritait que l'on entreprenne ce travail de transcription et d’annotation : on trouvera ainsi dans cet ouvrage une série de pièces épidictiques, composées par les académiciens eux-mêmes ou provenant d’individus étroitement liés à l’académie par leur fonction de prédicateurs ou leur participation aux concours. On a en particulier cherché à démêler quelles étaient les sources et les influences de ces différentes productions comtoises, à analyser l’originalité et le style de celles-ci, tout en apportant les éclaircissements historiques utiles à leur compréhension, le genre épidictique procédant volontiers par allusions. L’étude met ainsi en avant la présence de l’éloquence littéraire en Franche-Comté à la veille de la Révolution, et les efforts d’appropriation de ses codes génériques par les lettrés de la province / In the middle of the 18th century, la Franche-Comté joined the network of learned societies whose objective was to contribute “to the progress of science and to the perfection of talents”: an academy of sciences, belles lettres and arts was established in Besançon. Comtois academicians thus undertook many works and were committed to promoting the emulation of their fellow citizens by regularly organizing competitions. The company’s handwritten archives, which today are kept in the Besançon municipal library and may be consulted on line in digitized form, bear witness to this activity, which continued until 1789. Conducted from a literary viewpoint, the exploration of these vast archival collections has made it possible to select a sample of previously unpublished speeches and to propose a critical edition of them. The encomium genre, closely linked to the academic institution, was worthy of our undertaking this transcription and annotation work : thus, we find in this work a series of epideictic plays, composed by the academicians themselves or by individuals having close ties to the academy through their role as clergymen or their participation in competitions. We sought in particular to unravel the sources and the influences of these various productions, to analyze their originality and style, while providing the historical clarification needed to understand them, the epideictic genre lending itself freely to the use of allusions. The study thus highlights the presence of literary eloquence in Franche-Comté on the eve of the French revolution, and the efforts to appropriate its general codes by the scholars of the province / Im mittleren XVIII. Jahrhundert schließt sich die Franche-Comté dem Kreis der Gelehrtengesellschaften an, die « zu dem Fortschritt der Wissenschaften und der Vervollkommnung der Talente » beitragen sollen : zu dieser Zeit wird in Besançon eine Akademie der Wissenschaften, der schönen Literatur und der Künste gegründet. Ihre Mitglieder unternehmen von diesem Moment an zahlreiche Forschungen und organisieren regelmäßig Wettbewerbe, um unter ihren Mitbürgern die wissenschaftliche Wetteifer zu fördern. Diese bis zur Revolution hindauerndeTätigkeit bezeugen heute die akademischen, von der Stadtbibliothek Besançon aufbewahrten und nunmehr on-line erhältlichen Handschriften. Die aus einem literarischen Aussichtspunkt geführte Erforschung dieses umfangreichen Archivguts ermittelte eine Auswahl unveröffentlicht gebliebener Reden und ermöglichte, davon eine kritische Auflage vorzulegen. Gewiß waren die hier vorgeführten akademischen Lobreden, insofern als sie zu einem mit der Institution eng verbundenen literarischen Genre gehören, einer gedruckten Übertragung und einer kritischen Ausgabe würdig. Dieses Werk schlägt also eine Folge von epidiktischen Stücken vor, die entweder von Akademikern selbst verfaßt wurden, oder von Einzelnen, die als Prediger oder als Wettbewerber ein enges Verhältnis zur Akademie hatten. In der vorliegenden Studie werden ins besondere die Urquellen und Einflüsse nachgeforscht, welche die Schriften der Akademiker von Besançon geprägt haben, und die Eigenart und der eigentümliche Stil dieser Schriften untersucht. Nützliche bzw. notwendige historische Erläuterungen werden dem Leser zu einer besseren Verständnis der Texte helfen, die – dem epidiktischen Genre gemäß – oft anspielungsreich sind. Hervorgebracht wird, wie die literarische Redekunst sich in der Franche-Comté am Vorabend der französischen Revolution entwickelt hat, und wie sich die Gelehrten dieser Provinz bemüht haben, sich die Merkmale des Genres anzueignen

Medieval rhetoric, as a field and as a subject, has largely been under-developed and under-emphasized within medieval and rhetorical studies for several reasons: the disconnect between Germanic, Anglo-Saxon society and the Greco-Roman tradition that defined rhetoric as an art; the problems associated with translating the Old and Middle English vernacular in light of rhetorical and, thereby, Greco-Latin precepts; and the complexities of the medieval period itself with the lack of surviving manuscripts, often indistinct and inconsistent political and legal structure, and widespread interspersion and interpolation of Christian doctrine. However, it was Christianity and its governance of medieval culture that preserved classical rhetoric within the medieval period through reliance upon a classic epideictic platform, which, in turn, became the foundation for early medieval rhetoric. The role of epideictic rhetoric itself is often undervalued within the rhetorical tradition because it appears too basic or less essential than the judicial or deliberative branches for in-depth study and analysis. Closer inspection of this branch reveals that epideictic rhetoric contains fundamental elements of human communication with the focus upon praise and blame and upon appropriate thought and behavior. In analyzing the medieval world’s heritage and knowledge of the Greco-Roman tradition, epideictic rhetoric’s role within the writings and lives of Greek and Roman philosophers, and the popular Christian writings of the medieval period – such as Alfred’s translation of Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, Alfred’s translation of Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care, Ælfric’s Lives of Saints, Ælfric’s Catholic Homilies, Wulfstan’s Sermo Lupi ad Anglos, and the anonymously written Vercelli and Blickling homiles – an early medieval rhetoric begins to be revealed. This Old English rhetoric rests upon a blended epideictic structure based largely upon the encomium and vituperation formats of the ancient progymnasmata, with some additions from the chreia and commonplace exercises, to form a unique rhetoric of the soul that aimed to convert words into moral thought and action within the lives of every individual. Unlike its classical predecessors, medieval rhetoric did not argue, refute, or prove; it did not rely solely on either praise or blame; and it did not cultivate words merely for intellectual, educative, or political purposes. Instead, early medieval rhetoric placed the power of words in the hands of all humanity, inspiring every individual to greater discernment of character and reality, greater spirituality, greater morality, and greater pragmatism in daily life.